U.S. Stove 5660 - Auger Bushing turns with auger and auger hole for hitch pin ripped.

[Don2222]

Hello
This U.S. Stove Ashley 5660 stove is a good looking and working stove. It is older now and the pellets do not seem to feed consistently. The auger hitch pin broke a while ago but a new hitch pin got it working.
After looking closely at the bronze auger bushing I noticed when the auger turned, the bushing turned with it! That is not right and may have caused the jam that broke the hitch pin a while back! Has anyone else seen this? See video

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So I got a new OEM auger bushing kit and auger for the fix.
Here are all the steps:
1. Remove all the pellets
2. Pull the hitch pin that held the auger motor on.
3. Remove the 2 bolts that held the auger motor stop bracket and remove the bracket
4. Cut the silicone around the auger tube next to the auger end disk.
5. Remove the 2 bolts that hold the end disk and pound the auger downward inside the hopper with a rubber hammer so the auger starts sliding out.
Since the auger end disk is still on the base of the auger, there was not enough room to turn the auger to get it out because the base of the auger is so close to the air inlet tube below it!
6. Grind the the base of the auger around the ripped hole with the jagged edges and try to slide the auger bushing and end disk off the auger. The end disk did pushed lower on the auger base but would not come off!
7, Since the auger is damaged and there is enough room for to get the sawzall blade in there, just cut the auger shaft!
Bingo - That worked!
8. Clean the inside of the auger tube and sprayed the auger tube and auger with dry moly and also sprayed the top tip of the auger and inside of the new auger bushing with Marvel Mystery oil for extra lubrication.
9. Reassemble the new auger, auger bushing inside auger end disk, stop bracket and attach the auger motor with the hitch pin.
10. Add new high temperature clearance silicone to seal up where the auger end disk meets auger tube so air and fines do not leak out.
Note: As you can see in the last 2 pics that the bronze turned in the end disk do to the gouge ring just under the lip. You can see the claw marks when the retaining clip was forcibly removed from the bronze bushing! LOL The bushing is a press fit into the end disk and the retaining ring really does not do much. Therefore the best fix is to replace the bushing with a new end disk that comes with a new bushing installed. Therefore the bushing will not come loose and turn with the auger for a very long time!
The stove is feeding pellets just like when it was brand new. See pics below:
Pic 1 - New OEM auger bushing kit & Auger
Pic 2 - Old auger and auger bushing with motor attached with hitch pin
Pic 3 - Old auger in stove
Pic 4 - 6 Old auger and grinding jagged ripped hole
Pic 7-8 Cutting auger shaft with Sawzall
Pic 9 - Lubricating the auger and bushing with Dry Moly and Marvel Mystery oil
Pic 10 - All done - Feeds pellets like a new stove!
Pic 11-12 bushing stuck to the auger with a ring gouge that allowed it to rotate in the end disk!
The only way to get the bushing out of the end disk was to put the end disk on the bench vise and bang the bottom of the cut off auger down which also made the retaining clip slide down the bushing until I could pry the rest of it off with a flat blade screw driver! Does anyone see how this damaged bushing that is stuck to the auger can be removed (because the air tube is in the way unless the air tube can be removed) without sawing the base of the auger off?
Pic 13 - Model Tag - MFD = 6-14-2013

 

[zrock]

Looks like fun.. went through similar a few years ago where the hitch pin sheared and the motor spun on the auger shaft. Took me hours to get that shaft to line up with the hole for the hitch pin so i could get the remainder back out. luckely the last two times i had a jamb bad enough to break the pin it just broke one side of it and i heard it break so i was able to open up the back and replace it and clean the jamb.

 

[Don2222]

Looks like fun.. went through similar a few years ago where the hitch pin sheared and the motor spun on the auger shaft. Took me hours to get that shaft to line up with the hole for the hitch pin so i could get the remainder back out. luckely the last two times i had a jamb bad enough to break the pin it just broke one side of it and i heard it break so i was able to open up the back and replace it and clean the jamb.

Oh Yes, and you may want to check or replace the auger bushing because the fines from the pellets get into the bronze bushing making the inside black and sticky which causes the Auger Jambs and sometimes eventually making the auger bushing stick to the auger. As you can see from the pictures below of the inside of this bushing after removing the cutoff Auger piece that it is dirty and gouged and is the root cause of the Auger Jamming and also stuck turning with the auger causing all the pellet feed issues!